Leonardo DaVinci
![Picture](/uploads/1/7/6/0/17601991/9363685.jpg)
Leonardo DaVinci was born April 15, 1452 in Vinci, Italy just outside of Florence. Leonardo recieved a great amount of talent from his father, but since he started drawing at a very young age, he was most famous during his early and mid twenties. His apprentice showed him many ways of how to be a great artist including how to blend in perspective and realism. Leonardo would study parts of art through books and learn from other artists, but he started taking things into his own hands. To know everything about the human body, he would disect them. This helped him know exactly what rib cages, muscles, and other body parts looked like in different positions. Leonardo DaVinci was not only an artist, he was also an anatomist, engineer, mathematician, philosopher, sculpter, and an architect. Since Leonardo was such a curious man, inventing new things came to him easily, which also made him famous. Leonardo DaVinci was a very succesfull man with the many goals he has acheieved in his life.
Leonardo DaVinci contributed to the Renaissance by making a great amount of art for everybody to see. Many of his pieces of art included, the Mona Lisa which portraied a mid-aged woman with a mysterious glare, the Vitruvian Man, which showed a mans' wingspan with a great amount of detail. One of Leonardo DaVinci's specailty was making bodies look so real. He also had a type of story for each painting he drew, which let people who were illiterate, able to see what was going on in a story. Overall, Leonardo DaVinci had a great impact on the time of Renaissance.
Leonardo DaVinci contributed to the Renaissance by making a great amount of art for everybody to see. Many of his pieces of art included, the Mona Lisa which portraied a mid-aged woman with a mysterious glare, the Vitruvian Man, which showed a mans' wingspan with a great amount of detail. One of Leonardo DaVinci's specailty was making bodies look so real. He also had a type of story for each painting he drew, which let people who were illiterate, able to see what was going on in a story. Overall, Leonardo DaVinci had a great impact on the time of Renaissance.
The Last Supper
![Picture](/uploads/1/7/6/0/17601991/5358845.jpg?455)
The Last Supper was one of Leonardo DaVinci's most famous paintings. This painting was done on the end wall of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan in the 15th Century. The mural is painted onto the back wall of the churches dining hall and spans 15 by 29 feet. This type of painting is called a tempera, which is a type that uses a combination of egg yolk, vinegar, and oil paints, painted onto dry plaster.
The painting portraits the last passover dinner Jesus shared with his 12 apostles before his crucifixion. At the moment of the painting, Jesus tells his apostles that one of them will betray him. As you can see in the painting, around Jesus, there is pure chaos surrounding him. This painting is split up with Jesus in the middle and then 4 groups of 3 men with similar expressions on their faces. In the middle, Jesus Christ is sitting there with his eyes closed with his hands openly rested on the table. To the far left, there are 3 men, who are all extrmeley shocked. There eyes all wide open staring at Jesus. The group to the right of them has 3 men. One man appears to be sobbing, while another man has a bag of silver in his hand, which was a bribe he has revieved to kill Jesus. The man next to him is clenching a knife to protect Jesus. The group to the right of Jesus is another group of 3 men. They are all confused on what Jesus has said and seem to be discussing something with him. The group on the far right is also made up of 3 men. All of the men in this particular group, seem to be having a detailed discussion on what Jesus Christ has just announced.
Leonardo DaVinci included many artistic techniques in this painting. One of them was perspective. This technique was achieved by drawing the walls, ceilings, and windows with straight lines to show value and depth. Another technique was using a vanishing point. In this painting, Jesus' head is perfectly lined up horizontally and vertically which gives the observer something to see in the middle and everything revolving around it. Another technique used was the use of many geometric shapes. The walls, ceilings, and windows are all made up of even shapes put together. Lastly, Leonardo DaVinci incorporated a great amount of humanism and 3 dimensional objects in this painting. In this painting, each person has a distinct face and different emotions. Overall, this painting looks like it is almost real.
The painting portraits the last passover dinner Jesus shared with his 12 apostles before his crucifixion. At the moment of the painting, Jesus tells his apostles that one of them will betray him. As you can see in the painting, around Jesus, there is pure chaos surrounding him. This painting is split up with Jesus in the middle and then 4 groups of 3 men with similar expressions on their faces. In the middle, Jesus Christ is sitting there with his eyes closed with his hands openly rested on the table. To the far left, there are 3 men, who are all extrmeley shocked. There eyes all wide open staring at Jesus. The group to the right of them has 3 men. One man appears to be sobbing, while another man has a bag of silver in his hand, which was a bribe he has revieved to kill Jesus. The man next to him is clenching a knife to protect Jesus. The group to the right of Jesus is another group of 3 men. They are all confused on what Jesus has said and seem to be discussing something with him. The group on the far right is also made up of 3 men. All of the men in this particular group, seem to be having a detailed discussion on what Jesus Christ has just announced.
Leonardo DaVinci included many artistic techniques in this painting. One of them was perspective. This technique was achieved by drawing the walls, ceilings, and windows with straight lines to show value and depth. Another technique was using a vanishing point. In this painting, Jesus' head is perfectly lined up horizontally and vertically which gives the observer something to see in the middle and everything revolving around it. Another technique used was the use of many geometric shapes. The walls, ceilings, and windows are all made up of even shapes put together. Lastly, Leonardo DaVinci incorporated a great amount of humanism and 3 dimensional objects in this painting. In this painting, each person has a distinct face and different emotions. Overall, this painting looks like it is almost real.
Art is most likely the time period because many people were still illiterate and couldn't read what people were writing. When people made paintings, murals, and sculptures, they were telling stories about something. When an illiterate went to look at a piece of art, he or she would be able to tell almost exactly what was going on at the moment. Instead of reading a book about something, somebody could easily look at a series of pictures and tell what was going on. In The Last Supper, Leonardo depicted a scene in the bible. He painted the scene of when Jesus predicted that his 12 apostles would betray him. Since many people couldn't read the bible, this painting was very helpful, so they could understand what was going on. If this painting was never painted, many people would never know what happened. In conclusion, without art, many people who were illiterate would not be able to know the same things as people who could read. With art, people could look at a picture and know whats happening. This is a good example of the quote, "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Citations:
Bambach, Carmen. "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-2012.
Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
"Museum of Science, Boston." Leonardo Da Vinci. Museum of Science, 1996-2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
Nuland, Sherwin B. "Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519) Italian Renaissance Artist." Leonardo Da Vinci
(1452 - 1519) Italian Renaissance Artist. The Worldwide Art Gallery, 2000-2001. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.